Seeing as the Dawn of the Dead remake has proven a hit, I chose to reach for a George A. Romero flick I'd never managed to see. The Crazies (1973) has been reissued on DVD, enhanced by the filmmaker's commentary.

This sits fittingly in between '68's Night of the Living Dead and '78's Dawn, rife with themes of contagion and the ethics of survival. Here, a bungling group of military men attempt to contain an outbreak of a rabies-like illness, which causes the infected to either die or go stark raving mad. Martial law is declared, and the military go on a wild killing streak, attempting to knock off anyone who might spread the bug beyond the town limits. Though nowhere near the greatness of the first two Dead movies, The Crazies does offer up some very inventive killing sequences which are both horrifying and hilarious. In the extras department, I was thrilled to watch a doc on actress Lynn Lowry, who discusses working with Romero, Cronenberg, Lloyd Kaufman and Radley Metzger. » Matthew Hays